On 4/28/2018 at 1:31 PM, A-Jay said:

Sweet ! 

Be careful  . . . .

Might get your arm broke.

A-Jay

I bought some after the first post!

On 4/28/2018 at 8:04 PM, Adam.love05 said:

Last year I would've said Shakey head.. this year however, round ball jig with a small paddletail. Fish it fast, slow, shallow, deep, vertical, swimmig So versatile and it can catch some Biggins! 

one of my first memories of smallmouth fishing my dad took me on a guided trip on the susquehanna with none other than bob clouser.  all he used, when not fly fishing, was a round jig head and a small sassy shad.   he said you don't need anything else and he was right....

3 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

one of my first memories of smallmouth fishing my dad took me on a guided trip on the susquehanna with none other than bob clouser.  all he used, when not fly fishing, was a round jig head and a small sassy shad.   he said you don't need anything else and he was right....

I agree 100%.. I use to just cast it and swim it back but man oh man there are SO many more options on how to fish that bait. It's unbelievable..

6 hours ago, flyfisher said:

one of my first memories of smallmouth fishing my dad took me on a guided trip on the susquehanna with none other than bob clouser.  all he used, when not fly fishing, was a round jig head and a small sassy shad.   he said you don't need anything else and he was right....

That said a size 2 Clouser can put smallmouth in the boat almost as readily as a grub or tube.  I would love to book a trip with him while he's still around.  He's the streamer OG and such an encyclopedia of smallmouth knowledge.  

 

That said, if I only get one lure and we're talking numbers under most conditions, it's going to be a 4" grub. Tubes are a very close second.  If it's one fly for smallmouth, it's going to be a Clouser Minnow.

For me.....Hands down a 5 inch Senko.  There's just too many ways to rig it and have it produce.  Neko, Ned, Wacky, Weightless Texas Rigged, 1/4 oz football head (hook exposed).  At times it may not be the best but if I only had 1 bait, that would be it.  

Any old small plastic worm and a drop shot rig.

Interesting that no one mentioned the new Megabass "Dark Sleeper"...... my new favorite

crushes largemouth also

Dropshot

Shad Shape worm (natural shad color)

 

1/8 oz tube-jig with a 3.5" watermelon tube.

 

Skip it under docks, hop it off the bottom, swim it around grass, drag it along gravel and rock.

 

It can be a good representation of baitfish or crawfish depending on how it's retrieved. 

If I HAD to pick just one.... 5 Inch Kalin's Lunker Grub in Green Pumpkin. I can rig that up on a Smallie Crawlin' Jig and work it on the bottom like a tube, hop it, swim it, weightless as a topwater.... almost everything. Fortunately I don't have to pick just one, I'd miss my tubes, jigs, Aglias, jerks, and spooks!

Zoom super fluke, green pumpkin gold flake

I love fishing a jig so if I can only have one lure for SMB then that's what I'm picking!

4" black senko wacky rigged or weightless t rig.

4 inch green pumpkin curly tail

At one time I would have said tubes, but my new favorite has to be the swimmn caffeine shad. You can't fish it wrong. Caught the last LM on one last fall, stayed on my rod all winter, cast it out this spring and it still works.

  

    First one on a swimmn, caffeine shad this spring.  3.7

A white/silver suspending jerkbait.  It's the most versatile thing I can think of, because you can fish it very fast (which I do all the time in the summer) or very slow (for colder weather).  You can also control how erratically it moves from side-to-side.  And that color will work in almost any type water (clear or dirty).

The only smallmouth fishing I can do here is in a fast little river. Being forced to choose one, I'm going with a Bomber Square A (1-5/8") in Firetiger.  It is hands down the best producing bait for me, and always the first I will try.

Tube, but smaller than most have recommended. 2.5 to 3 inch. I don't think many smallies think to themselves "I'd eat that if it were an inch longer", and more importantly less drag from the bait makes grad level finesse jigging easier. 

Backroom Baits 3.75" Swimbait in Green Pumpkin purple/copper. Fast, slow, high, low, hot, cold, you can find a presentation that will slay river Smallies. Brian.

Drop shot/Split shot rig with 4" worm. 

 

RoboWorm, Power Worm? I would spin myself into the ground having to make that choice. 

Smokin' Rooster.

 

T-Rigged with a weight.

T-Rigged without a weight.

 

Any depth, about any retrieve you want....

Can I change my answer? On the last few outings the black with blue metal flake 5" paddle tail worm, TX rigged with 1/4 bullet, as landed more fish, especially smallies, than any other lure this season. Today landed a whopper of a smallmouth, guessing about 16 inches long and nicely chunky. It jumped out of the water a ways out, and as soon as I lifted the net I wished I had a scale. Deep hooked, and it took a while to get it out but managed to get it. Fish took a while to recover but finally did and swam down. Apologies for no photo (only an out of focus one in the net); I thought getting her back in the water ASAP was more important as she was out for a while.

 

On 4/28/2018 at 8:04 PM, Adam.love05 said:

Last year I would've said Shakey head.. this year however, round ball jig with a small paddletail. Fish it fast, slow, shallow, deep, vertical, swimmig So versatile and it can catch some Biggins! 

You don’t know what this does for me! I’ve never caught a smallmouth (Florida) but I’ve caught more fish on a 1/4 strike king itsy with a GY paddle tail than ANYTHING. And I mean ANYTHING. Dudes around here look at me crazy because there’s not a craw on my jig. I thought I was alone with this....

For my local rocky river it's easily a Mizmo Teaser Tube (2.75") in Penrod Purple with a 1/8 oz internal tube jig head. But becoming an ever closer 2nd choice would be a Zman finesse TRD in green pumpkin/orange on a 1/16 oz mushroom head.

Green Pumpkin Goby TRD on a 1/6 shroomz